[Elecraft] K2 vs K3

[Hank Blackwood]

I love my K2.  But it’s all about the tinkering. It’s had some significant improvements over the years but it’s not a K3.  I use mine a good bit for nets and stuff but it’s a ragchew rig for me.  But I love to align this and calibrate that so it’s a ton of fun.  Just added 60 meters and that was a blast.  

If you want to build a kit don’t go anywhere else!

> On Jul 23, 2026, at 5:15 PM, Jim Brown via Elecraft <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> 
> On 7/23/2026 1:54 PM, Steve Hall via Elecraft wrote:
>> Unfortunately, at the price you get the K2 with 100 Watts and SSB, you may
>> as well get a K3s.
> 
> And the K3 and K3S are FAR, FAR better radios. The K2, a very nice QRP CW rig, was also fine with the added 100W amp and tuner. It was only adequate on SSB, which was an afterthought, both as a transmitter and receiver. On SSB, the RX was fine when at full bandwidth through the TX filter, but the massive phase distortion generated by re-aligning the RX filters for narrower RX bandwidth seriously degraded speech intelligibility.
> 
> Wayne had learned a LOT in the decade or so between when the K2 and K3 were designed, and by then, there were far more powerful tools at prices compatible with hams pocketbooks, and for designs that weren't feasible for kit builders.
> 
> The great things about the K2 are that it allowed thousands of hams to build a quality rig, and it built a great company that was able to give us state of the art rigs that have been the choice of serious HF operators for 18 years! It also established a wonderful new way to interact with customers, with interactive on-line communication of user needs and desires, on-line support, direct sales that eliminate the middleman, and factory repair service.
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
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